Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Some would argue that building a backdoor for just one iPhone is a simple, clean-cut solution. But it ignores both the
basics of digital security and the signicance of what the government is demanding in this case.
In todays digital world, the key to an encrypted system is a piece of information that unlocks the data, and it is only as
secure as the protections around it. Once the information is known, or a way to bypass the code is revealed, the
encryption can be defeated by anyone with that knowledge.
The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But thats simply not true. Once created,
the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the
equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks from restaurants and banks to stores
and homes. No reasonable person would nd that acceptable.
The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect
our customers including tens of millions of American citizens from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The
same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to
weaken those protections and make our users less safe.
We can nd no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For
years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would
hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals
and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.
A Dangerous Precedent
Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs
Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority.
The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a
passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by brute force, trying thousands or
millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer.
The implications of the governments demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier
to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyones device to capture their data. The government
could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages,
access your health records or nancial data, track your location, or even access your phones microphone or camera
without your knowledge.
Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an
overreach by the U.S. government.
We are challenging the FBIs demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We
believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.
While we believe the FBIs intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor
into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our
government is meant to protect.
Tim Cook
Apple Store
For Education
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
For Business
Account
Apple Values
About Apple
Site Map
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com